A brutal stretch of nine Waterloo Black Hawks games in 17 days ended Sunday with a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Steel at Fox Valley Ice Arena.
Chicago scored twice in the third period, swinging to the victory after Waterloo held the lead through 40 minutes. When the teams had met two nights earlier, they were tied at the second intermission before three third period Chicago goals resulted in a 5-2 final.
Sunday, the Steel led for much of the opening frame, but the Black Hawks knotted up the game seconds before intermission. Chicago's opening tally came on a power play at 9:56. Marco Senerchia's bid from the deep slot was turned away but bounced right to the stick of Adyn Merrick waiting in the left circle. Merrick put back the rebound try.
Both goalies made big glove saves late in the period: Dane Callaway denied Luke Goukler on a rebound, then a couple of shifts later, Veeti Louhivaara soaked up Jackson Schneider's attempt from just outside the crease.
Louhivaara couldn't stop another try by Hawks defenseman James Russell with 31.2 seconds before intermission. Russell triggered the shot from just inside the blue line and beat the big Finnish goaltender to the blocker side.
The Black Hawks went ahead with the lone goal of the second period at 17:59. The Steel were unable to clear their zone despite repeated attempts along the boards left of their net. The Hawks eventually took control, with the puck finding its way to Cullen Emery between the circles; Emery beat Louhivaara off the post and in.
However, Chicago retied the game 50 seconds into the third period. Merrick found the rebound of Cole Tuminaro's shot in the right circle and dropped the puck back to Timo Kazda; he hit the net to level the score at 2-2.
Then with just over six minutes to play, the Steel went to a five-minute power play when Trevor O'Donohue was called for spearing. Circle-to-circle passing from Kazda to James Scantlebury set up the latter to beat Callaway.
A partially offsetting call put the teams four-on-four, and Caleb Deanovich had the best chance to level score one more time. Unfortunately, his shot rang off the crossbar, and Waterloo did not see another high-quality opportunity to tie the game after the teams came back to full strength.
The Hawks are back at home Friday against the Des Moines Buccaneers at 6:35 p.m. Dupaco Community Credit Union presents Black Hawks Dupaco Cowbell Cup lanyards to the first 1,000 fans. For seats, visit tickets.waterlooblackhawks.com or call the Domino's Black Hawks Box Office at (319) 291-7680.
Waterloo 1 1 0 - 2
Chicago 1 0 2 - 3
1st Period-1, Chicago, Merrick 12 (Senerchia, Kazda), 9:56 (PP). 2, Waterloo, Russell 3 (Schneider, Emery), 19:28. Penalties-Timm Wat (interference), 9:19.
2nd Period-3, Waterloo, Emery 10 (Russell), 17:59. Penalties-Crowder Chi (interference), 9:45.
3rd Period-4, Chicago, Kazda 17 (Merrick, Tuminaro), 0:50. 5, Chicago, Scantlebury 13 (Kazda, Senerchia), 14:08 (PP). Penalties-O'Donohue Wat (major-spearing, game misconduct-spearing), 13:56; Vieau Chi (slashing), 16:44; Carlson Wat (roughing), 20:00; Kazda Chi (roughing), 20:00.
Shots on Goal-Waterloo 7-10-7-24. Chicago 10-10-14-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Waterloo 0 / 1; Chicago 2 / 4.
Goalies-Waterloo, Callaway 4-8-1-1 (34 shots-31 saves). Chicago, Louhivaara 11-4-4-0 (24 shots-22 saves).
A-1,693
